John Oyegun, national chairman of
the All Progressives Congress (APC), says former President Goodluck Jonathan
was aware of the corruption in his administration but chose to ignore it.

Oyegun said this an interview
with Osasu Igbinedion on the sidelines of the launch of Bolaji Abdullahi’s
book, ‘On a Platter of Gold: How Jonathan Won and Lost Nigeria’.

According to him, Jonathan’s
refusal to fight corruption was one of the factors that cost him the 2015
election.

Asked if President Muhammadu
Buhari had a good chance of winning the 2019 election in the event that he
declares his intention, and given the fact that he has sacked some members of
his cabinet on alleged cases of corruption, Oyegun said it was good that Buhari
was at least fighting the corruption in his administration.

“Isn’t that good?” Oyegun asked.

“If Jonathan had done that, may
he not have been in power today?

“Of course, he did not, and we
just saw that today in the launch of that book that he looked at monumental
corruption in the face and turned away. In our case, the opposite is the truth.

“There will always be corruption
and he is fighting it vigorously. There is only one thing about that man- he
must be sure that you are guilty. That takes a bit of time.

“He must be sure that when he
inflicts punishment, he can go to bed at night and sleep quitly and peacefully.
That he does but at the end of the day, he does it.

“And you can see that those who
joined the APC, erroneously thinking that maybe that will give them protection;
that does not happen. A lot of them are in the court today. There is no
question at all. The noise that we hear is that corruption is fighting back,
quite naturally.

“We have perhaps not done enough
to satisfy everybody. And there is the basic fact that the resources are leaner
today. The oil market collapsed.

“The challenges were more but in
spite of those challenges, look at the great infrastructural works that are
currently underway to prepare the foundation.”

He further denied speculations
that he will step down as the chairman of the APC in 2018, while explaining
that his term is over.

“My term is over. I have a four
year term. And I have the option of seeking a renewal of my mandate,” he said.